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There can be few people who have not, in extremis, reached into the recesses of a sofa or rifled through their wardrobe in search of forgotten cash.

And so it is with governments. When strapped for revenue and unable to tap their usual sources, they turn instead to "black money."

The global financial crisis has precipitated a worldwide crackdown on tax evasion as governments seek to reclaim revenues that have fallen through the cracks.

When the leaders of the G20 nations met in London in April for the summit on the world economy – spurred on by Barack Obama's comments on offshore centres – there was unprecedented action to implement the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development standards of transparency and exchange of tax information. More than 90 tax information exchange agreements have been signed and more than 60 tax treaties negotiated or renegotiated to incorporate the standards.

A number of governments have elected to introduce programmes designed to persuade recalcitrant taxpayers into yielding up their secrets. "Amnesties used to be an opportunity for governments to get taxpayers to switch in to the tax system," says Stephen Herring, senior tax partner at the London office of accountants BDO LLP. "Now they are saying this is your final chance and the price will get higher and higher."

Governments that have this year declared amnesties for repatriating assets from abroad include the U.S., the U.K., Brazil, Argentina, Kyrgyzstan, Malta and Italy, which has had 60 amnesties in the past 100 years.

On Sept. 30, the Italian parliament approved a controversial new amnesty in the face of strong opposition due to late amendments tabled by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government. The amnesty will enable Italian taxpayers to disclose foreign assets to the tax authorities and face only a 5% levy.

The government reportedly hopes to entice up to €300 billion ($443.7 billion) of the estimated €600 billion held abroad back to Italy with the new amnesty, including up to about €125 billion held in Switzerland and €86 billion held in Luxembourg.

The U.K. has followed its 2007 Offshore Disclosure Facility – which focused on the five largest commercial banks and raised £450 million from 45,000 customers – with a New Disclosure Opportunity, which will target account holders with money in smaller local banks and the 300 U.K.-based banks that have offshore operations. It has also introduced a Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility, which applies to U.K. residents who hold investments in Liechtenstein on or after Aug. 1, 2009.

British holders of offshore accounts abroad may be able to transfer their funds to Liechtenstein to take advantage of this amnesty.

"The world is now a much smaller place and taxpayers are burying their heads in the sand if they think this will go away," says Nick Jacob, tax and private capital partner at London lawyers Lawrence Graham. "The same is true for banks. Noncompliant business may be very profitable but it is not a longterm business model."

Other countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Canada, have made regulation of foreign accounts a permanent feature of their tax system. In the Netherlands, for instance, taxpayers who voluntarily disclose "black money" must pay 100% of the tax owed, going back five years for assets held in the Netherlands and 12 years for assets held abroad. But there is no fine and they do not face criminal prosecution.

However, the regulators are about to get tougher. Since countries such as Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Belgium announced they would relax their bank secrecy laws, the number of Dutch taxpayers taking advantage of the voluntary disclosure programme has increased substantially. As a result, Dutch State Secretary for Finance Jan Kees de Jager announced in April that the penalty for taxpayers who hide money in foreign bank accounts was to be increased from a maximum of 100% of tax owed to a maximum of 300%, from Jan. 1, 2010.